Police Fine Mom When 2-Year-Old Pees on Sidewalk

Here's a story that will totally piss off anyone who has tried to potty train a toddler (pun totally intended). Philadelphia mom Caroline Robboy was given both a ticket and a lecture by a police officer this past Sunday evening because her 2-year-old potty-training son, Nathaniel, couldn't hold it.

I kid you not. She told NBC10 that they were in a store with her two other children and elderly in-laws when the toddler said he needed to go. She asked if they could use the restroom, and they were "told no." Upon exiting the store the boy couldn't hold it and ran over to a pole on the sidewalk to get some relief.

When she saw what was happening, she tried to at least get him to move to a grassy patch, but it was too late. A police officer saw it and busted them, issuing her a $50 ticket for public urination.

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She told the station, “He said, ‘I’m doing this for your own protection' because God forbid there might have been a pervert out there looking at my son."

When a 2-year-old needs to go, a 2-year-old needs to go, and while outside on a public street isn't ideal, sometimes that's what needs to happen. Dogs do it all the time, so it's not that big of a deal. I wouldn't encourage my son to do so except in an emergency, but there were plenty of times that we had no other choice than to go in a corner of a parking garage or at a park. It happens.

As for any perverts, in the heat of the moment, I'd be pretty willing to take my chances that one didn't just happen to be standing there for the two seconds it takes for a kid to go. Talk about paranoia. Besides, the street seems a lot less sketchy than public restrooms in that regard.

Robboy says she plans to fight the ticket, as she should.

It’s not about the $50. I want a place that feels friendly to me where my children feel safe and have positive experiences with police officers.

Hopefully she'll get some justice. Here she is talking more about the incident.

Do find it outrageous that this mother was ticketed because her 2-year-old peed on the street?